Inquest Told Too Many Files Not Enough Workers

By 250 News

At the Coroner’s inquest into the death of Amanda Jean Simpson, one of the social workers who dealt with Amanda’s family painted a picture of a Child Protection office within the Ministry of Children and Families that was overworked and understaffed.

John Bird was a supervisor at the time and testified that under “normal” circumstances, anyone with potential contact with Amanda and her siblings would have been interviewed.  But let’s talk about normal” he testified.  “We had a team of 6 people and 180 families, that means any one worker had 20 to  30 files and would be so busy trying  to assure   basic  safety they would also be trying to keep their own sanity.”

Bird talked about how he had interviewed Amanda and two of her siblings on more than one occasion and had interviewed their mother.

The two youngest had told about being spanked, and one of the girls indicated two other siblings had their mouths washed out with soap by the step father.   Bird said all allegations were investigated, and while there were concerns “the risks were not sufficient to create an ongoing file”.  Bird also   testified the step father had never been interviewed “Talking to him might have been helpful in assessing risk.”

Bird said that while the Ministry has standards the workload at the time was immense.  When asked by the Coroner if there were 180 families being dealt with, just how many children did that mean?   Bird said he couldn’t hazard a guess.  “Given the staffing and the caseload, we did the best that we could.”

When asked by the Coroner what he thought might have made things better,  Bird  said  that first of all, there would need to be  the ability to be selective about who should investigate  a case.  He referred to an instance when he arrived on scene to interview one of Amanda’s siblings and the child was upset about a “man being at the gate”.   Bird said clearly sending a man to interview a little girl about potential abuse at the hands of a male, is not the best option.  “We should be able to have a team of workers, we should have psychologists, and experts who can work together and make an overall assessment.”  He said that while the Ministry is  mandated to  look after the safety and well being of children,  because  they are so  stretched  for staff,  they are only able to  focus on the  safety issues  “The well being is not assured.”

Four year old Amanda Jean Simpson died in Children’s Hospital in November of 1999.  She had suffered severe physical trauma.  One witness testified this week Amanda’s injuries were similar to those that might be suffered if a child had fallen out of a third story window.

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